Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05BRATISLAVA888
2005-11-03 12:56:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bratislava
Cable title:  

SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUNDUP, NOVEMBER 3, 2005

Tags:  PREL PGOV PHUM ELAB PINR SOCI LO 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L BRATISLAVA 000888 

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/04/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM ELAB PINR SOCI LO
SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUNDUP, NOVEMBER 3, 2005

REF: A. BRATISLAVA 835


B. BRATISLAVA 735

C. BRATISLAVA 877

Classified By: Ambassador Rodolphe M. Vallee for Reasons
1.4 (B) and (D).

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE UNDER DURESS
------------------------------------

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRATISLAVA 000888

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/04/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM ELAB PINR SOCI LO
SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA POLITICAL ROUNDUP, NOVEMBER 3, 2005

REF: A. BRATISLAVA 835


B. BRATISLAVA 735

C. BRATISLAVA 877

Classified By: Ambassador Rodolphe M. Vallee for Reasons
1.4 (B) and (D).

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE UNDER DURESS
--------------


1. (C) Agriculture Minister Zsolt Simon (of the Hungarian
SMK party) has recently come under pressure because of
allegations that an agriculture company he co-owned received
SKK 8 million (around USD 250,000) in agricultural subsidies
from the state budget in 2003. Simon sold his share in the
company in 2004. Prime Minister Dzurinda noted that this is
"an ethical issue for the Minister and the Party of the
Hungarian Coalition," and that Minister Simon continues to
have his trust. On October 30, SMK leader Bela Bugar accused
the Slovak Intelligence Service of orchestrating the campaign
against Simon. The Agriculture Minister was noticeably
distracted during the Ambassador's October 31 meeting with
him, running his fingers through his hair and frequently
checking messages on his blackberry. Simon is hoping to
avoid the fate of his former Deputy, Marian Radosovsky, who
stepped down October 27 under pressure from KDH leadership
because of similar ethical complaints. Radosovsky's company
received SKK 7.5 million (around USD 235,000) in subsidies
from the Agriculture Ministry between 2002 and 2004.

RADIO STATION PUTS POLS IN INTERESTING POSITIONS
-------------- ---


2. (SBU) Local radio station Fun Radio's morning show takes
its honored guests out to perform stunts concocted by the
station without the prior knowledge of the unsuspecting
guests. Some of the gags have featured high-level GOS
officials; for example, Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda was
taken to the main train station, where the PM -- who for many
years was a railway employee -- was seen out on the tracks
dispatching trains. Opposition leader Vladimir Meciar was
given a temporary job as a taxi driver, while on October 31
Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard Kukan appeared in front of

the U.S. Embassy, handing out cups of hot tea to visa
applicants waiting for their interviews as part of a Fun
Radio stunt.

POLICE GO ON STRIKE; LEADER GETS DEMOTED
--------------


3. (SBU) Over 2,000 policemen and women from all corners of
Slovakia took part in their first protest rally, held in
front of the PM's office in Bratislava on October 25. The
policemen were protesting the decreasing police budget and
the widening salary gap between policemen and soldiers.
According to the trade unions, the policemen's welfare
situation is untenable. In response to the strike, Minister
of the Interior Vladimir Palko dismissed the police trade
union boss, Miroslav Litva, from his position as head of the
MOI's research and technological development department.
Palko considers the police protest as the first attempt to
"infiltrate" politics into the operation of the department
(Note: One MOI source told us that there are indications
that the opposition party ANO was involved in the initiation
of the rally, and several opposition MPs -- including Smer's
Robert Kalinak -- also participated in the rally. End Note).
Palko also plans to punish Litva's deputy, Marian Magdosko,
for organizing the rally. Under Slovak law, the police are
banned from striking; Palko believed that a strong response
was necessary to discipline the police corps for what he saw
as a clear demonstration of disloyalty, while trade union
council KOZ is protesting his "abuse of power" in demoting
police union leaders.

ROMA IN PRESOV: NO WALL WILL BE BUILT...
--------------


4. (SBU) Poloff learned from a October 18 meeting with
Partners for Democratic Change in Slovakia (PDCS, an
organization that administers a USAID-funded Roma integration
program in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary) that
the so-called "Roma wall" (ref B) will not be built.
Instead, a fence will be repaired around a retirement
community in the area, two playgrounds will be built, and a
room in a nearby community center will be turned into a
neighborhood police station manned by two officers. PDCS
says the Roma community is supportive of this plan, which
they say is the result of the efforts of Roma Plenipotentiary
Klara Orgovanova's intervention with city officials. PDCS
notes, however, that the city is treating the symptoms, but
not the problem; Presov officials are considering the
relocation of even more Roma to the Stara Tehelna
neighborhood, and the construction of additional low-income
housing -- but not the services to support it -- in the area.
The Ambassador will be speaking in Presov next week and will
raise the issue and reinforce USG interest in the situation.

ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAWS ARE BEING ENFORCED
--------------


5. (SBU) A 57 year old bus driver in Presov was recently
convicted of "defamation on the basis of race, nationality,
or belief" after he called two Romani sisters traveling on
his bus without tickets "black mouths that should be sent to
the gas chamber" in January 2004. He was fined SK 5000
(around USD 150).

GENERAL PROSECUTOR PROPOSES ABOLISHING FASCIST PARTY
-------------- --------------


6. (SBU) General Prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka submitted a
proposal on October 31 to abolish fascist political party
Slovenska Pospolitost (ref c). Trnka claims that the
organization's bylaws, programs, and activities are in
violation of the Slovak constitution, laws, and international
commitments to protecting individual rights. The General
Prosecutor began reviewing the status of the group after the
NGO People Against Racism filed a claim against Pospolitost
in July.

GOS ENGAGES SUDAN, CANCELS DEBT
--------------


7. (SBU) Slovakia wrote off Sudan's debts in compliance
with its official development and aid program. The debt
relief, amounting to USD 38 million, was part of GOS attempts
to support Sudanese economic development, democratization,
good governance. Slovakia has also upgraded its Consulate
General in Khartoum to an Embassy, and appointed a Sudanese
Honorary Consul. Ministry of Finance officials tell us that
the GOS is also undertaking the debt relief to meet Official
Development Aid (ODA) to Gross Net Income goals pursuant to
the conclusions of the June 2005 EU Summit in Brussels. The
relief of the debt, which was considered a "state financial
asset," will also have a direct affect on the budget,
increasing Slovakia's fiscal deficit. It is likely that the
GOS canceled the debt this year to ease entry in to the ERM2
"Euro waiting room" in June 2006.


SLOVAKS DON'T TRUST HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS?
-------------- --


8. (U) An October 19 poll released by Slovak daily SME
asked if readers had sent money for earthquake relief to
Asia. While 14 percent responded "yes," 18 percent responded
"No, I have enough of my own problems," and 61 percent
responded "No, I don't trust humanitarian organizations" (7
percent were "undecided").
VALLEE


NNNN